Family and friends of the pilots of the “Blacklions” of Strike Fighter Squadron 213 wait in anticipation as the squadron lands on the flight line at Naval Air Station Oceana during their homecoming Aug. 18.

F/A-18E Super Hornets from the “Tomcatters” of Strike Fighter Squadron 31 pull in to the flight line at Naval Air Station Oceana Aug. 18 for their homecoming. The squadron, along with the rest of Carrier Air Wing Eight is returning home following a seven-month deployment attached to the USS George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group.

The Pilots of the “Blacklions” of Strike Fighter Squadron 213 wait to be greeted by friends and family during their homecoming on the flight line at Naval Air Station Oceana Aug. 18. The squadron, along with the rest of Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8) is returning home following a seven-month deployment attached to the USS George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group.

Family and friends of the pilots of the “Blacklions” of Strike Fighter Squadron 213 wait in anticipation as the squadron lands on the flight line at Naval Air Station Oceana during their homecoming Aug. 18. The squadron, along with the rest of Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8) is returning home following a seven-month deployment attached to the USS George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group.

NAS Oceana welcomes CVW-8 home

Family and friends of the pilots of the “Blacklions” of Strike Fighter Squadron 213 wait in anticipation as the squadron lands on the flight line at Naval Air Station Oceana during their homecoming Aug. 18.

By MC2 Richardson

The Pilots of the “Tomcatters” of Strike Fighter Squadron 31 are greeted by friends and family during their homecoming on the flight line at Naval Air Station Oceana Aug. 18.

By MC2 Richardson

F/A-18E Super Hornets from the “Tomcatters” of Strike Fighter Squadron 31 pull in to the flight line at Naval Air Station Oceana Aug. 18 for their homecoming. The squadron, along with the rest of Carrier Air Wing Eight is returning home following a seven-month deployment attached to the USS George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group.

By MC2 Richardson

The Pilots of the “Blacklions” of Strike Fighter Squadron 213 wait to be greeted by friends and family during their homecoming on the flight line at Naval Air Station Oceana Aug. 18. The squadron, along with the rest of Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8) is returning home following a seven-month deployment attached to the USS George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group.

Photos by MC2 Jacob S. Richardson

Family and friends of the pilots of the “Blacklions” of Strike Fighter Squadron 213 wait in anticipation as the squadron lands on the flight line at Naval Air Station Oceana during their homecoming Aug. 18. The squadron, along with the rest of Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8) is returning home following a seven-month deployment attached to the USS George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group.

More than 300 men and women and 58 aircraft of Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW 8) returned home August 17 and 18, following their seven-month deployment attached to the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) Carrier Strike Group (GHWBCSG).

The air wing, commanded by Capt. Jim McCall, left their home bases of Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana, Naval Station Norfolk, Naval Station Mayport, and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Jan. 21 on a regularly scheduled deployment as part of the George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group and sailed toward the Mediterranean Sea and its 5th and 6th Fleet areas of responsibility.

While conducting flight operations in both the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf, CVW 3 performed a record number of accomplishments including 11,347 sorties, of which 1,924 were combat missions. An impressive 30,873 flight hours were logged with 12,603 of those in actual combat. In addition CVW 8 aircraft logged 7,868 arrested landings, or “traps” during the deployment.

The aviators delivered 1,717 pieces of ordnance including Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) for a total of 1,814,000 pounds (907 tons). These numbers set post-Desert Storm records for a CVN/CVW team.

Watch this discussion.Stop watching this discussion.

(0) comments

Welcome to the discussion.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language.PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated.Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything.Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person.Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts.Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.

Latest edition

The 2018 Hampton Roads Navy Ball was held on Saturday October 13, 2018 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. Enlisted Navy sailors and officers gathered for a night of dinner and dancing to celebrate the Navy's 243rd Birthday as well as the 25th anniversary of The Flagship newspaper.

This parody of Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk" depicts midshipmen on liberty in Annapolis, was made on a $0 budget, has more than 7 million views and won the "Geico Best Short-Short Film" in 2015.